Luxury Apartments with Private Pool

The Owner's Apartment details

Home description

At first sight La Gaudane takes your breath away, a superbly crafted golden stone building with its five floors clad in wisteria and trompette. It was designed and built in 1881 as an embroidery factory which accounts for its vast and cool interiors with extra deep windows to assist the 19th century embroiderers in their fine work.

It has all the advantages of the town with the quietness of being just off the busier beat. Enjoying both a courtyard garden and the main garden equipped with a new fenced swimming pool and a large terrace (half of it shaded by vines for those who prefer it shaded) with a magnificent panoramic view over the valley of the Cerou and beyond valley pastures to the darker contours of the Aveyron. There are beautiful gorges to one side and to the other the upland Herault beyond which lies Beziers and the blue Mediterranean.

There are three huge loft apartments, each of rather different character. They have been designed to celebrate the wonderful airy loft space of the building. There is a large shared private garden, terrace and fenced pool with 'honesty' bar.

There is also a delightful Lodge apartment with direct access to the pool and terraces.

We pride ourselves on providing everything for a great holiday including welcome packs, towels and linen provided, weekly cleaning service (more regular if required) and English speaking guardians on hand for advice and local information.

External features on site

• Barbecue
• Boating lake
• Fishing lake
• Garden
• Scenic views
• Tennis Court
• Swimming pool (shared use)

Accommodation detail

Four large bedrooms, two luxury bathrooms, big living room kitchen, separate toilet and laundry, all centred on a massive airy salon where a dozen people or so can at one time watch television, sit and chat, play cards or snooker. The entire apartment is fully furnished with quality antiques, high specification beds and the latest appliances. (3000 square feet.)

• It accommodates 8 to 10  (plus cots)
• Top of the range fridge/freezer, oven, dishwasher, washing machine and tumble drier.
• All linen and towels supplied
• Weekly clean/linen change - more often if required
• TV with English channels
• Access either by main stairs or by back stairs to private gardens and pool or courtyard and door to lane, one floor down.

About the location

Cordes-sur-Ciel - the town

La Gaudane sits on the lower slope of Cordes-sur-Ciel, the famous 1222 bastide town with its medieval houses, narrow lanes and endless mazes of little stone alleys, steps, tunnels and gardens which make for a patchwork down from its ramparts to the valley. It takes 10 minutes to walk up from La Gaudane to browse in the many shops selling handicrafts and delicious specialities of the Tarn. There are many restaurants and cafes to while the time away and wonder how the old city has been so well conserved. As you sit there the assistant mayoress or the town photographer, councillor and volunteer fireman may pass by and wish you a friendly "bonjour". Several sleepy straw coloured dogs may open an eye to watch you pass by. They are the distinctive local sheep dog breed but nowadays they have turned their attention to herding tourists and visitors.

Cordes and the arts

You will notice very soon that the weft of the arts is very closely woven into the warp of the ancient stones. Since Yves Brayer came to Cordes just after the Second World War with his artistic colony, Cordes has enjoyed deep cultural currents. There are over fifty studios, galleries and ateliers in the town. La Gaudane, of course, houses the 1880's embroidery atelier.

The upside of the downside

On a more practical side one can walk "downside" from La Gaudane along to the "place" passing the bakers on the way and, joy, the little old shop that still sells toys, candles, saucepans, needles, postcards and anything you might ever need. There are still no hypermarkets in Cordes, just a friendly small supermarket and around the "place" a newsagent, bookseller, bank, post office, barber, hairdressers, old fashioned mercerie, flower shop, café, restaurant and patisserie which serves numbingly exquisite little dainties at small tables. If the cobbled street up-hill looks too challenging the town navette (shuttle) will rattle you up to the top giving you on the way a matchless ride along the southern ramparts. The town was enlarged four times to defend its growing population and La Gaudane is on the line of its final fortification. Indeed we still have the remains of a watch-tower at the lower edge of our ground where the local historian says a soldier stood for over 200 years with a primed arquebus to signal any attack.

And, if our garden palls, there is just around the corner "Le Jardin des Paradis", the world famous garden created in 2001.

Cordes-sur-Ciel is a very special town. It is impossible to be untouched by its charm or to leave it without warm and special memories. And last, but not least, you will find the last phases of the 19th century embroidery heritage whose beautiful works are to be found locally, in specialist shops and ateliers.

What's on

Throughout Spring, Summer and Autumn there is always some event taking place in Cordes or in the surrounding villages and towns. Up in the high town there is a full programme of exhibitions, a summer music festival and in mid-July the streets are thronged by the population in medieval mode for the Festival of the Grand Fauconnier – a feast of falconry and jousting. Several times a year experts build a special oven and cook the world's biggest almond and sugar biscuit, a monster over 8' square. There are two lively theatres and cinemas in nearby Albi, and its own programme much centred around its famous castle, massive cathedral and Lautrec Museum, honouring its most famous son.

 

 

See Local guide and map for information on nearby towns and facilities.

Activities near by

Adventure park, Bird Watching, Boating, Boules, Canoeing, Cycling, Fishing, Golf, Gourmet dining, Horse riding, Kayaking, Mountain biking, Rambling, Sailing, Shopping, Sightseeing, Swimming, Table tennis, Tennis, Walking, Water sports, White water rafting, Wind Surfing, Wine tasting, Wine touring

See Activities and attractions for more information on nearby activities and places of interest.

How to get here

By Air: To Toulouse or Rodez from London Gatwick or Stansted or by low cost airlines from several provincial airports. If you catch the morning plane, even losing an hour to GMT, having taken a hire car, you can eat your lunch in Cordes and then leave after lunch and be home in England for dinner.

By Train: There is a plentiful network of efficient comfortable SNCF trains in France. Montauban and Toulouse are available on main line services and there is a handy local train from Cordes/Vindrac (3km along the road) into the centre of Toulouse. A Sleeper Train leaves Paris/Austerlitz in the evening after dinner and you wake in your comfortable couchette at Cordes/Vindrac ready for breakfast.

By Car: France, of course, has some of the best roads in Europe. One can cruise down from the Channel Ports on big safe autoroutes breaking the 600kms with an overnight stop or you can tour down, an unforgettable pleasure, by lesser roads, seeing more of the villages and towns. Cordes is just an hour by road from Toulouse, Toulouse Airport, Rodez Airport or Montauban Centre. By way of Albi, Cordes is a half day from the Mediterranean, Bordeaux and the Atlantic or Spain through the upper passes and the Pyrenees.

See Local guide and map for information on nearby towns and airports.